Retreat



Enron HARRISON F. THOMPSON, OF VINELAND, NEW JERSEY.

GAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 18, 1919.

Application filed December 19, 1918. Serial No. 267,502.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRISON F. THOMP- SON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Vineland, in the county ofCumberland and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Games, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to games and toys, and more particularly to agame apparatus, and it may be entitled Hunting the Hun or The Race toBerlin.

The object of the invention is to provide an entertaining andinteresting war game to be played by four persons.

Another object is to provide a game board upon which a game may beplayed with pieces simulating the men of allied armies, operating fromindividual bases represent ing various allied nations, each allyrepresented endeavoring to reach the capital of the enemy first.

Another object is to provide a board for playing such a game havingmeansfor distinguishing the space or fields used in connection with each basemeans and for indicating the different character of moves to be made bythe men when located at different points on the board.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within thescope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a front elevation on anenlarged scale of one section of the game board forming a part of thisinvention,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view on a small scale of the complete board, and

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of playing pieces used.

In the embodiment illustrated, a board 1 is shown about sixteen inchessquare, more or less, and which is divided into four sections or fields1, 2, 3 and 4, with a common center 5 having the word Berlin or othersuitable matter written on said center to indicate the objective pointof the players of the four fields which are the contestants. The fourouter corners of these one of I the sections indicate bases 6, 7 8' and9 on which are placed letters such as B on base 6' which indicates theBritish base, F at 7' indicating the Frech base, I at 8 indicating theItalian base, and A at base 9 indicating the American base.

The fields are exactly alike, one only being shown in detail in Fig. 1.This section 4 is divided by intersecting lines 11 and 12 into blocks orsquares, each of which has a number thereon from 1 to 99, and some havelegends to indicate various stations, military strongholds, fortifiedplaces, or prisoners camps.

Playing pieces 10' in the form of small metal soldiers are preferablyused, and a box and dice, not shown, are also employed, said box anddice being of the usual construction. Four playing pieces for eachnation are preferably used, and the board may be decorated or colored inany suitable or desired manner to render it attractive. Each contestanthas his own field and all players throw dice simultaneously and movetheir playing pieces together, one man each, the idea being to give thegame a race feature. The squares 13 are provided with means forindicating the direction of move ment of the men in journeying to thecenter 5' which is the enemys stronghold. Each square has one or moregaps 14 in its bound-. ary to form an entrance or exit for the playingpiece, and such piece can only be moved through said gaps to reach anobjective point. 'Fig. 1 shows the squares numbered and the numbersdisposed irregularly so that to reach the objective point a circuitousroute must be followed.

Should any two or more players reach a point where there is a penalty,the player who is nearest moves, and the others do not. This afl'ords anopportunity for the player who is a little behind to forge ahead.

The men can be moved singly or all at the same time at the option of theplayer, and the player who succeeds in moving all of his men into Berlinfirstwins the game.

Each man played will move out only when 1 is thrown. After reaching theblock numbered 95 a player can only move by throwing 1, 2, 3 or 4, andcannot use 5 or 6 to finish the game. The skill and judgment of a playerwill count largely in winning.

The squares or blocks 13 formed by the intersecting lines 12 and 11 maybe numbered or not, but are preferably numbered,

as the numbers show the location of the move.

This game may be played in various ways to suit the players and will beespecially interesting in view of the recent Worlds war, which it isintended to represent.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and of themethod of operation will be readily apparent to those skilled in the artto which the invention appertains and while I have described theprinciple of operation of the invention together with the device which 1now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have itunderstood that the device shown is merely illustrative and that suchchanges may be made as are within the scope of the claimed invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a plurality of playing pieces; of a rectangulargame board divided into four sections having a common center forming anobjective point for the four sections, each section having a base at itsouter corner and each equipped with means for indicating the differentmovesv to be made by the playing pieces when said pieces are located atdifferent points on the board.

strongholds, fortified places, and prison 40 camps, with gaps in theirboundaries to indicate the path in which the playing piece may be moved.

3. A rectangular game board divided into four sections having a commoncenter .and each having a base at its outer corner, each section beingdivided into blocks, each equipped with a number from one toninety-n'ine and some of said blocks having legends .to indicate variousstations, military strongholds, fortified places, and prison camps, saidblocks being numbered irregularly with gapsin their boundaries forindicating the direction of movement for journeying to the center, saidgaps being so located as to form a circuitous or indirect route to saidcenter.

In testimony whereofl afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRISON F. THOMPSON.

